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by roguewrld



Series: Supernatural Ficlets [3]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: 9x07, AU, Angst, Dean stays, Episode Tag, Not A Happy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-27
Updated: 2013-11-27
Packaged: 2018-01-02 18:42:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1060231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roguewrld/pseuds/roguewrld
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam wasn’t in the car that night, so he stayed. But no matter what, they always ended up here.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Home

The letter turned up in his mailbox just before finals. The return address was Bobby’s, which meant the letter was from Sam.Their Dad had never forgiven him but he still had a brother, so there was that.

Dean tore it open standing in the mail room. The first page just said, ‘How do you feel about California?’ It was warm? The girls wore less clothes than they did in Upstate New York?

The second page was a photocopy of an admissions letter. Stanford. A full ride. “Way to go, Sammy.”

He called Sam’s phone that night, even though there was always the risk that Dad would answer and make Sam get a new phone number. “Hey.”

"Hey." Sam always sounded happy to hear from him. "I can talk. Dad’s out."

"Hustling or binging?"

"Guess I’ll find out tomorrow.  So, what do you think?"

"I’m proud of you." He can’t imagine trying to finish high school with Dad dragging them hither and yon all the time. "I’m done in May. Lots of expensive cars to work on in Cali, I’m sure I can find something to occupy myself."

"I wish I could be there." Dean wondered how many cases their Dad had let slip by, to keep Sam away from him.

"Sonny will take pictures for you, and I’ll be there for yours, I swear." He’s got an old Impala he’s been restoring. It’s not the car he spent his life in but it ran. If he spent the next few months focusing on her engine, she’d get him to California.

* * *

He graduated and Sonny came down from the farm for the ceremony. He took pictures for Sam and for the wall of the house. Dean was a success story that he was going to hold over the other kids’ heads for years so Dean smiled broadly and hoped he didn’t look too goofy.

He drove cross-country for the first time in six years and didn’t hate it. He’d avoided road trips for so long, sure they’d remind him of Dad but he’d been wrong. He loved his car, loved burgers and greasy diners. It took him two weeks to get to the West Coast. He spent the first few weeks on the couch of a friend’s parents but he had an engineering degree from a good school and experience rebuilding classic cars. By the time Sam showed up at the Greyhound Station in August, he’d gotten them an apartment with two beds and a set of mismatched plates and pots and pans.

When Sam saw him leaning against the black car, he stopped in his tracks. “Jesus, Dean, did you clone the car?”

"Shh, you’ll make her jealous." Sweetheart was temperamental. "Come on, I want to show you our place."

* * *

For Dean, home was a farm house 3,000 miles away and Sam had never had one so they built one together. Dean worked a lot of hours and stashed money in a savings account. He didn’t know what it was for, but having it made him feel better the same way full cupboards did.

He spent Sam’s freshman year studying for the FE exam and his sophomore year thinking about grad school. He decided he’d rather own his own garage one day, so the money stayed in the bank.

By that point, Sam had fallen in love with Jess and Dean practically had to kick him out of their apartment to give live with her. He had his own life, a job and a gaming group and guys he talked about cars with. He could handle his little brother moving fifteen minutes away. 

When Sam got an interview for law school, Dean and Jess plotted together and he basically kidnapped Sam for a weekend away, just the two of them. They drove north and spent a couple days camping.

The last thing Dean told him before they went back was, “Mom would be so proud of you.” Sammy didn’t remember Mom but Dean did. She would have wanted them to be happy, to be safe.

Sam had clapped him on the shoulder and told him, “She’d be proud of you too, Dean.”

Dean dropped him off at his apartment and sat outside for a while, the car idling. He rested his head against the wheel and he wasn’t a praying man but he thanked whoever it was that made Dad come for him first that night because if Sam had been with him, he would never have had the courage to leave. They wouldn’t be here, wouldn’t have this life.

He was just about to put the car into gear when the building burst into flames.

* * *

After the funeral, Sam asked to borrow the car. When he came back, Dean found their trunk as well stocked with hunting gear as Dad’s ever was. Sam looked up from the shotgun he’d been loading and he looked so lost. Dean didn’t say anything, there was nothing to say. They hadn’t gotten out after all. The thing that had killed their mother had found them, stolen someone they loved from them again. 

Sam threw the gun into the trunk and shut it. “We’ve got work to do.”


End file.
